


together and separate

by shakespearespaz



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dinner, F/F, F/M, Family, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Holography, TARDIS - Freeform, i guess they're just the TROUBLE TRIO, idk who's met who and when so i'm making it up, idk why these three, or the innuenduo???, references/draws on the pandemic and quarantining, this was very innocent then the innuendo duo showed up, virutally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23568394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shakespearespaz/pseuds/shakespearespaz
Summary: Thirteen hosts a virtual dinner party because she misses the fam and some losers crash it.(aka me trying to write something light for these times we live in and par for the course having it end up both silly and deep)
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan), Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan, because that one's canon!!!, other ships are in the subtext too
Comments: 13
Kudos: 135





	together and separate

“So, what are you attempting?”

Graham’s doubtful voice sounded out of the phone and through the TARDIS. The Doctor jumped for the ceiling, for the cord hanging from it.

“I’m trying to bypass the holographic projector!” she bellowed in the direction of the phone, which had various cables coming out like tentacles, linking it to the TARDIS console. “Trying being the operative word here…if only the secondary coolant system would get _out_ of the WAY—”

She gritted her teeth as she reached up to the top of the console, teetering precariously on the edge.

“Doc, am I—am I on speakerphone?” Graham asked. 

“Gotcha, you little bugger!” she celebrated, as she fished the cord out triumphantly, “Sorry, not you, Graham. And yeah, Yaz is here too. Well, virtually.”

“Hiya,” sounded Yaz’s voice from the same phone.

“Oh, hi, Yaz,” Graham responded, “How you holding up?”

“As well as can be expected. One minute I’m glad I’m with my family and can give them a hug whenever, and the next I’m certain I’m going to become the first probationary police officer in Sheffield convicted of murder.”

“I feel ya,” Graham chuckled and then replied, “Ryan’s set up a makeshift basketball court in the living room, and I swear if he wasn’t my grandson…”

“Hey, you two talking about me?” Ryan’s voice joined the conversation.

“My fam!” The Doctor interrupted them, as she finished plugging the last few cords into her masterpiece, “You’re all here! Now, I know we can’t be together because of new intergalactic pandemic containment policies…”

“Yeah,” Ryan chimed in, “Who knew that pathogens could survive in the vacuum of space?” 

“They actually think that’s maybe how life got started on earth,” Yaz pointed out.

“Yasmin Khan!” The Doctor beamed proudly, even though Yaz couldn’t see. “That’s exactly right. And you keep pushing that theory because it was totally not _ever_ me accidentally crash landing here earlier than I intended. Nope, absolutely not, never.”

“Uh, Doc?” Graham asked, “Why are we all here?”

“Oh right,” she continued, “Well, besides the fact that I wanted to hear your lovely voices, I thought that with just a little tweaking I could manage to _see_ your lovely faces as well. So, drumroll please….”

None of them gave her a drumroll, but it didn’t matter. She flipped the switch on her console.

“Ta da!”

One of the wires set off some small sparks.

“Was something supposed to happen, Doctor?” Yaz inquired.

“Arrrgh.” She let out a small, frustrated noise. “Got the inputs reversed. Let’s try that again.”

She switched two of the cables and flipped the switch again.

“Ta da!”

Yaz, Ryan, and Graham were in the TARDIS. More specifically, holographic projections of them were, in good enough resolution and bright enough that at first glance it seemed like they really were there. Upon closer inspection, each was ever so slightly transparent. But it was better than nothing—far, far better than nothing.

“Whoa, Doc!” Ryan exclaimed, looking around and taking a few steps, “It’s like I’m really here….but I’m also at home? Like I can grab this…” He reached beyond his projection and picked up a basketball, bringing it back into his projection. “And bring it here.”

Graham was equally impressed, at least for the moment.

“Wow, you’ve actually gone and invented something useful this time, Doc.”

“Graham!” she scolded, halfhearted. Really, her hearts were just bursting at the seams to see them again. “This way, we could have a family dinner together, maybe? We could be together even though we’re apart. What do ya think?”

She wasn’t sure how they would respond. They came with her for adventures, not virtual dinners in her ship. She had no cause to worry. Yaz broke into a blinding smile, wide eyes happily taking in the TARDIS and the Doctor. She opened her mouth to speak. No sound came out. The Doctor’s face fell.

“Oh, shoot! We don’t have Yaz’s audio.” She turned back to the console, muttering to herself. “What did I do wrong? All the inputs are good, signal is perfect, what—ah! She’s just been muted.”

She hit the button on the phone screen.

“—and that’s why it’s been rough, but it’s wonderful to see you all.”

The Doctor turned back to Yaz with a swish of her coat.

“What was that, Yaz? Sorry, your mic was muted.”

“Oh.” She looked a little disappointed. “Nothing. Just…it’s good to see you.”

The Doctor smiled back at her, looking from her to Ryan and his basketball to Graham. They were all here.

“You said you wanted to do dinner, Doc,” Graham reminded.

“Yes!”

She pivoted and went to run up the stairs, disappearing into the back hallway, leaving the holographic trio to awkwardly wait for her. Within moments, she was back, plate in hand, mug in another.

“I decided that it was breakfast for dinner night, so I made pancakes. Didn’t even burn them!”

She displayed them proudly. Graham leaned in for a closer look.

“What are all those brown spots then?” he challenged.

“Chocolate chips, of course,” she replied seriously. She took a seat on the steps leading to the hallway. “What are you all having?”

Yaz pulled a chair into her hologram and picked up a mug.

“I already did dinner with the family, but I’ve got my after dinner tea.”

“Very nice.”

“It’s spaghetti and meatballs night for us,” Graham replied.

“Excellent choice,” the Doctor nodded at him, as Ryan left for a moment to go grab their dinner, “Did I ever tell you about the time I got into a fight with the inventor of meatballs? Well, he wasn’t the _real_ inventor which was how we ended up dueling…”

They let her continue on, chatting at full speed, clearly eager to have someone to talk to after being on her own. Yaz was comfortable, hanging onto every word that came out of the Doctor’s mouth, fixated on her hands moving rapidly as she explained. Ryan was on the floor, occasionally chiming in when he recognized something the Doctor had said, and sometimes just chiming to poke fun at Yaz or the Doctor. Graham ate his pasta quietly, looking between the two kids and one ancient being who’d given him family just when he’d thought he lost his.

Their plates were nearly clear when an alert echoed through the TARDIS.

“Hold on, let me get that,” the Doctor told her friends. She catapulted to her feet and headed towards the console. She leaned over to look at the phone screen, brow furrowing.

“What?” she asked.

The TARDIS beeped at her.

“Yes, I know, but _what_?”

“What’s it say, Doctor?” Yaz asked from the stairs.

The Doctor read off the screen, her voice slow, dripping with confusion.

“The Master would like to join your hologram hangout.”

She looked up at her three friends across the console.

“Is that a good idea, Doc?” Graham asked cautiously.

“Doesn’t matter,” sounded a familiar voice, “I’m already here.”

The Doctor whipped around. A hazy hologram of the Master stood behind her. He was just in his waistcoat and shirt, sleeves rolled up, an unreadable expression painted across his face.

“Really,” she sighed, “You hacked my hangout sesh?”

His arm shot up, pointing at the mess of cables spilling out of the console, all connected to one little phone.

“You’re basically broadcasting to everyone in this sector,” he chastised in disbelief, “You’re giving off massive artron readings and have unprotected lines open to multiple locations halfway across the galaxy! And what, so you can have tea time with the runts you picked up at the shelter?”

He stopped, breathing heavily. A small, wise smirk began to creep across the Doctor's face.

“Do you want to join us?”

“What—no—I just came to tell you what an idiot—”

The smirk broke into a mocking smile, and she closed the virtual distance between them. 

“You can’t hurt anything,” she whispered to him, “You’re just a hologram. Join us.”

His eyes fluttered closed as he thought. They shot back open.

“Fine. I’m only on course two of dinner anyway.”

The Master left the hologram for a moment to retrieve his dinner. The Doctor turned back to give a shrug to her friends. Graham did not look happy. Soon her best enemy returned, sauntering over to group sprawled among the steps.

“What’s for dinner?” Ryan asked politely, as the Master pulled up a cushy purple chair in between him and Yaz.

“Humans who ask too many questions,” the Master bit back with a vicious smile, before rotating to his other side, “Yaz, you’re looking well.”

“You look like shit,” she responded curtly.

“Hey,” the Doctor interjected, “Everyone play nice.”

“He tried to kill us, Doc,” Graham said coldly, “He destroyed your home and kidnapped you and almost took you from us, forever. I’m sorry, but that’s a lot to sit down to dinner with.”

“No, don’t stop,” the Master urged with a manic grin, “I love hearing my greatest hits.”

The Master started to chuckle, which only aggravated Graham. The Master angled his head towards the Doctor, letting out a sly smile.

“She’s got a lot more where that came from. Ask her.”

“ _Stop._ ”

The Doctor’s stern voice quieted them.

“We’re all already on edge, alright. Now, the Master’s my enemy, but that means he’s _mine._ And if I want to invite him to dinner tonight, then that’s my choice. But I think we have a lot more be gained by breaking bread—well, virtually at least—rather than by pushing each other away right now.”

The family took a moment but eventually nodded solemnly and went back to their food.

“Damn, Doctor,” the Master heckled, “You’ve got them whipped.”

Her light eyes turned on him.

“I’ll have you whipped too if you’re not careful.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Is someone flirting without me?”

All four of them turned at the sound of a new virtual intruder in the ship. The TARDIS blared her annoyance as the Doctor was on her feet again. Jack Harkness was waiting for her on the other side of the console, a mischievous grin plastered across his face as his hologram flickered. She groaned.

“What are you doing here?”

“Uh, you basically have a giant flashing sign on that says party this way. You know me, can’t turn that down.” His grin grew impossibly wider as his hungry gaze took her in from head to toe. “Oh, god, you are just so—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” she warned.

“ _Small_ ,” he said emphatically, “I was only gonna say small! Oh, come here.”

He went wrap to her in a hug, but instead of making contact he simply passed through her.

“Damn holograms! They have their uses, but they make it so hard to get physical.”

He was most of the way to the party at back of the TARDIS, and as he approached he stopped to take in the guests that were already there.

“Silver fox, nice to see you again.” He winked at Graham. “And you two are looking good.” He licked his lips as he grinned at Ryan and Yaz. “And you…”

His face fell as he recognized the final figure staring up at him with a predatory smile. He turned in a huff to the Doctor.

“What is this murderous clown doing here—”

“He’s not really here,” she rushed to the Master’s defense, placing herself between him and Jack, even though they were both holograms, “This is the best way to at least try and coexist.”

Jack shook his head at her.

“You really are still stupidly full of hope, aren’t you?”

He leaned around her to glare at the Master, who blinked innocently.

“She can’t resist me,” the Master explained coyly, “Unlike you, who she easily resists.”

"Oh, I haven't had a chance with this latest version yet," Jack replied with cheeky shake of his head.

“Okay!” the Doctor cut in, trying to ignore how warm her cheeks were, “Innocent family meal time, let’s go! Who brought dessert? A post-meal snack maybe?”

“Oh, sweetie, you’re the snack.”

This new voice caused her to freeze. She rotated slowly. She was here. Her wife was here, just on the other side of her TARDIS. She left the fam and squabbling immortals and hurried around the console to the new holographic guest.

“River—” the Doctor managed to get out.

“Shhh.” River pressed a holographic finger to the Doctor’s lips. “Did you know, wife, that you’re currently inviting the _entire bloody universe_ to your house party? We are absolutely having a lecture on cyber security in the modern age—”

“What are you doing here?” the Doctor interrupted, desperate and hopeful. 

She searched her wife’s exuberant face for any explanation.

“Well,” River started, a hint of secretive smile emerging, “With the quarantine, we’ve all been relegated to one time and place, and, well, you’re a traveler too so you understand how unbelievably, mind-numbingly difficult that is. I’m _bored,_ sweetie. And with the hologram, well, I’m not really here am I? So we can keep the time streams intact and still have a nice dinner.”

Before the Doctor could respond, the motley crew in the back did for her.

“The Doctor’s _wife_!” Jack bellowed, “Oh, this is a monumental day.”

“Granted,” River sighed, “I think we’re past the _nice_ part.”

She floated past the Doctor to join the party. The Doctor followed her in a slight daze.

“Jack.” River acknowledged him with a curt nod. “I’d thank you to stop fighting over my wife. I think it makes this one blush.” She winked at the Doctor, who had to turn away to avoid becoming red as a tomato.

She pivoted to face the family.

“Oh god, you’re all just so _good_ , aren’t you?” She twisted her head back to the Doctor. “I can’t wait to get to know them. They seem lovely.”

Finally, she came to stop in front of the Master, taking in the holographic form sprawled on the couch with pursed, judgmental lips. “Hmm. I think I liked you better as woman.”

The Master flew to his feet.

“And I liked you better dead.”

River froze, her expression tense and vacant. The Doctor wasn't sure who was going to fold first. She recognized the fire in River's eyes and knew that both would be in trouble if they were actually in the same place. Without warning, the Master laughed in her face. River brought a hand up to slap him, the intention clear although it passed straight through his cheek.

" _Missed_ ," he hissed at her.

The entire group erupted. The family turned to each and talked rapidly, overlapping.

“Her _wife—”_ Yaz managed to get out.

“This is a lot—” Ryan contributed.

“This is not going to end well, that’s all I’m saying—” Graham added.

The Master lunged, passing straight through River, leaving him face to face with Jack. The vitriol came from both sides.

“At first I thought at least this regeneration is cute, but you’re just as much of a little shit as always,” Jack berated.

“Every slimy finger you’ve ever laid on her is in the records—” River growled.

“Except what’s not in the records—” the Master spat at her.

“Why, you little—” Jack came at the Master, but obviously couldn’t land any blows.

“You better pray you never meet me—”

River kept talking, but her voice was gone. Her mouth, and the Master’s mouth, and Jack’s still moved, but no sound came out. The Doctor peeked out from behind the console, at the family sitting on the steps, shocked faces watching the silent brawl in front of them.

“I muted them,” she confessed, “They can’t hurt each other physically at least.”

Graham looked skeptically between her and them.

“Well, maybe it will be good for them,” he offered.

The Doctor moved back towards her friends, dodging the three fighting figures.

“Look,” she said sheepishly, shame creeping into her voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they’d come.”

“It’s alright,” Ryan tried to reassure, “We all have friends like that. Well, maybe not like _that_ , but we get it.”

The Doctor shook her head.

“ _This_ is my past. This is why I didn’t want to share it with you.”

“Doctor.” Yaz’s voice was gentle. “Who are they? Be specific. Let us help.”

The Doctor licked her lips and looked at the three well-intentioned humans before her. She stole a glance at the three quasi-immortal disasters behind her. She nodded.

“Okay, um. The Master. My best friend from Gallifrey, now a genocidal maniac. You’ve been up close and personal already. Jack Harkness. Another immortal. Sometimes helpful, always annoying. Flirts with anything that has a pulse and some things that don’t.”

She turned to see them nodding along.

“And River. River is—was?—my wife. It’s very confusing with all the time travel. The first time I met her, she died.”

She swallowed and looked up at them.

“I’m so sorry, Doc,” Graham said softly, “For your wife.”

Despite the turmoil, gratitude overflowed the Doctor’s hearts. How had she gotten this lucky, to stumble upon these kind, clever humans? She would never know. She could only appreciate them as best she could and hold them close, for as long as she could, even when they weren’t physically there.

“Okay, game plan, Doctor,” Yaz dictated, “You wanted an evening together. I say we wrangle them into playing nice.”

“Yeah,” Ryan added, “Three of us, three of them. The math adds up.”

“Unmute them, Doc,” Graham said, “And we’ll do our worst.”

“You sure?” she asked.

All three nodded resolutely. The Doctor hastened back to the console and hit the phone screen. The clamor of voices resumed, as Jack pretended to choke the Master.

“And that’s why, even if I had the opportunity, I wouldn’t even screw—”

“Hey!” The Doctor roared, interrupting whatever sordid tale Jack was in the middle of.

The three froze, three pairs of eyes staring her down. She let the frustration break through.

“This was supposed to be a nice evening. Something fun for my _family_ in the middle of scary and uncertain times. Something _peaceful._ And now you’re ruining it. Settle down or leave.”

The three slowly inched away from each other, like guilty schoolchildren.

“Go sit down,” she reprimanded, “Next to the only civilized beings in this virtual hangout.”

She thought she had them, as they slunk by her. Jack couldn’t resist.

“You know, when you’re angry,” he told her, “You’re really, really—”

Her frigid look shut him up.

“Hey, River, was it?” Graham called out as they got closer, “Can I talk to you?”

“Sure,” she replied, moving to sit next to him on the steps.

“Hey, cheeseball,” Ryan said, “Come here.”

Jack grinned, but his arm didn’t need to be twisted.

“Okay, cheeky one,” he conceded, joining Ryan on the ground, “You can have me.”

The Master was not going to be corralled that easily. His hologram invaded the Doctor’s space, inches from her face.

“You want your pet to babysit me,” he said incredulously, before his eyes lit up with another idea, “Or maybe, I could just break quarantine, triangulate your position, and we could settle this face to face. I jam the signal on that phone and your support system disappears like the flimsy paper dolls they are—”

“You already tried getting rid of us,” Yaz admonished from behind him, “We always come back.”

The Doctor caught Yaz’s gaze over the Master’s shoulder, the girl’s chin raised confidently in support. She gave her the tiniest smile of gratitude. The Doctor’s eyes flitted back to the Master.

“Come on,” the Doctor offered, calling upon the final shreds of mercy left in her heart for him, “Even you must be tired of being alone right now.”

Those wide eyes were thinking. Finally, he spoke.

“Alright, _Yaz,_ ” he agreed, “You can have the privilege of my company for this evening, and this evening only.”

They turned back to the group.

Her family _was_ good. They managed to keep all these figures from her past—who should definitely not have been in the same room together—distracted. Maybe they were just curious; they suddenly had access to parts of her that she normally kept so tightly locked away. Was she nervous? Certainly, but she also couldn’t ignore the surprising relief that it was bringing her. Everything she’d been carrying around with her was now _shared_. It was no longer hers and hers alone to carry.

“So that’s how you met?” Ryan asked Jack, brow furrowing, “The Blitz? That’s intense, man.”

Jack shrugged.

“Wasn’t to us, I suppose? I spent most of it getting drunk and hitting on his cute blonde companion so I could con him into buying the ship that he was trying to save the world from.”

“Uhhhh…” Ryan did not have a response.

“Actually, she kinda looks like—”

He was interrupted by something running through his hologram. From what Ryan observed it looked like a slug covered in purple hair.

“Fluffy, no!” Jack cried, and disappeared to take care of the mystery creature.

He returned, sighing as he sat back down.

“Sorry, Fluffy’s become an expert at interrupting my work calls,” he replied, “Don’t worry she’s been further quarantined in the bathroom.”

“No worries,” Ryan assured, “But go back—the Doctor used to run around with cute girls?”

Jack leaned in.

“So. Many.”

Ryan laughed.

“Used to snog them all the time too. Especially the historical ladies. God, what a skirt chaser.”

“Hey, you’re one to talk, mate,” Ryan replied.

“Oh, I don’t discriminate,” Jack argued, putting his hands up, “I mean now she wouldn’t know if someone was flirting with her even if it hit her like a ton of bricks.”

“Yeah, well, I suck at flirting, so I get it,” Ryan replied, a little dejected.

For Jack, that was basically handwritten invitation.

“No, no, no!” He shook his head vigorously. “We can’t have that. You’re getting a crash course from the master!”

Across the room, the actual Master had moved onto dessert as Yaz sat bored, staring up at him.

“And what is this now?” she asked flatly.

“Homemade tapioca pudding,” he replied, feet up on the steps as he lounged in his purple chair, “The balls—”

“Ew, no,” she cut him off, “I don’t need to hear about balls.”

Yaz let her gaze wander to the other side of the room, where the Doctor sat laughing with Graham and River. They appeared to be deep in the middle of some sort of archaeology related trivia game.

“Oh, Yaz,” the Master sighed, “Don’t go there.”

She turned to meet his intense gaze.

“Go where?”

“You’re not the first human to fall head over heels.” He took another bite of his pudding. “Just remember, you’re an emotional support animal and at the end of the day, you either die or leave, and she moves on.”

“No,” she rallied, “We’re her family.”

The Master cleared his throat.

“Don’t you have your own family?”

She looked at him in disbelief, the defiance clear in her voice and her eyes.

“You can have more than one. Some of us aren’t emotionally stunted. Some of us have room in hearts for multiple people. Love’s not a limited resource, mate.”

She turned back to the Doctor, who was now lying on the floor, moaning after getting a trivia question horribly wrong. The Master was quiet, watching her too. He shifted forward, closer to Yaz.

“Did she teach you that?” he asked derisively.

Yaz didn’t respond, ignoring his attempts to get to her. He was wrong, she knew. The confidence, the hope, the love, everything the Doctor had given her couldn’t be wrong.

“You’re gonna find out sooner or later that she’s a massive hypocrite,” the Master declared nonchalantly, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Yaz twisted back to him.

“And where does that leave you?” she prodded, “You love her too. You try to disguise it with your hate and your games, but you can’t ignore it forever.”

The Master leaned back in his chair, swallowing the words he wanted to say, words he'd never say. It was his turn to watch the Doctor scrunching up her face and laughing with River. He watched until he couldn't stand it.

“The difference is, Yaz,” he said deliberately, “everyone else goes away eventually. Every companion, even her wife. When the universe is ending, though, it’ll still just be me and her in this ridiculous dance.”

Yaz looked back across the TARDIS, at the best person she'd ever met. 

“Just because something will eventually end,” she stated softly, “doesn’t make it unimportant.”

He didn’t have a response.

The Doctor rage quit the trivia game, bouncing over the Ryan and Jack instead. Graham was left chuckling as River watched her wife bound away.

“You certainly found a livewire there, River,” Graham nudged the woman next to him, “How’d you two meet?”

“Oh, you know,” River exhaled, “Regenerating girl of time-travelling parents meets boy she’s been programmed to kill except now the boy is a girl. Classic love story.”

Graham took it in stride.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t expect any less from the Doc,” Graham confessed, “But how do you keep it all straight? Just thinking about it hurts my head…”

He made a confused face, but River didn’t see it. She was too busy observing her wife, trying to memorize that joyous smile, trying to wrap her mind around the sheer fizzing energy that overflowed every sharp angle of her uncoordinated limbs.

“It’s not easy,” she replied, as the Doctor reached over to smack Jack in the shoulder, missing as her hand passed through him, “Every time we meet and part it’s on very different terms. I never know when I’ll see them again, when they will have seen me last, even what they’ll look like sometimes.”

“God,” Graham breathed, “That uncertainty…”

River looked over at him, her kind eyes understanding what he was saying. She laughed lightly.

“What isn’t uncertain in this life?” she responded, “Still, every time I see them, I wonder…could this be it? It’s not a very loud thought, mind you. But it’s still there.”

Graham hated that he knew exactly what she meant. You never knew which moments were the last, did you? But, he thought, if only someone could’ve warned him. He leaned in towards her, lowering his voice.

“Couldn’t you, you know, read ahead a little?” he suggested, “You’re both time travelers. Gotta have some advantages, right?”

She shook her head, sending curls bouncing.

“No spoilers,” she chastised, like she’d said it a million times before, “Besides, can’t spend today fretting about tomorrow. Or tomorrow fretting about today.”

Graham supposed she was right.

“All we have are these moments here,” he added simply, “Right now.”

River beamed at him, a beautiful smile that made him start to see why the enigmatic Doc would choose this woman.

“She always finds the best, doesn’t she?” she mused.

“What?” he asked.

“Never mind,” River said, linking her holographic arm with his, as they watched the Doctor finally give up on Jack’s advances and move away, “You keep living for today, Graham O’Brien.”

The Doctor practically skipped to the far side of the console, mostly to escape whatever wildly inappropriate thing was coming out of Jack’s mouth next. She had another motivation too. Her foot found the petal under the dashboard, and in two seconds she was collecting her custard cream reward. She munched on it, her mind wandering, until a loud laugh from Yaz brought her back to earth—well, to the TARDIS.

The Master had made Yaz laugh, which was probably responsible for the smug expression now written across his face. Jack shouted something that she couldn't quite make out back to them, something naughty she assumed, as Graham rubbed his temples, defeated, and Ryan tried to hide a knowing smile.

River’s dangerous eyes connected with hers ever so briefly across the room. The Doctor felt her hearts quicken, stirring a warmth and happiness deep inside her, one which threatened to overflow without warning.

The TARDIS gave out series of happy beeps, as if reading her internal state and responding in kind. She ran her hand along the warm metal of the dash, watching the lights dance briefly for her. She looked back at her impromptu gathering.

The Doctor took them in, her past, her present, possibly her future, all colliding virtually on the floor of her timeship. The universe was her home, but sometimes home had to be just slightly smaller—a ship, your friends, an enemy or two, remembrances of days past, and promises of adventures yet to come. With all of them transported here, she was reminded that sometimes home was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

Sometimes they were physically apart, but still wondrously, hopefully together.


End file.
